Work attached paint shield



April 30, 1968 E. J. WAGNER vWORK ATTACHED PAINT SHIELD Filed Feb. 9,1967 EATENT AGENT INVENTOR.

sun. J. WAGNER l-llll J Final: MWHV B United States Patent 3,380,435WORK ATTACHED PAINT SHIELD Emil J. Wagner, San Jose, Calif., CharlotteB. Wagner, surviving spouse of said Emil J. Wagner, deceased Filed Feb.9, 1967, Ser. No. 614,851 3 Claims. (Cl. 118-505) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A paint shield for wall baseboards or similar structureswhich includes an elongated plate together with holding elements forreleasably attaching the plate to the baseboard.

The present invention relates generally to painters implements and moreparticularly to a paint shield which affords protection against thedripping or otherwise unwanted application of paint to surfacesneighboring a surface being painted.

When a wall is being painted, particularly with a roller, someinadvertent dripping of the paint occurs and although the fioorthereunder can be quite readily protected by a so-called drop cloth," noeffective protection for other structures such as a conventionalbaseboard is provided. Furthermore, regardless of the inadvertentdripping of the paint, it becomes diflicult, particularly when a rolleris being used for the application of paint, to cover the lower portionsof the wall surface without, at the same time, inadvertently applyingsome paint to such baseboard.

To protect structures such as baseboards against the inadvertentapplication of paint thereto, it is the general object of the presentinvention to provide a paint shield which can be removably applied toprotect such structures during a painting operation.

More particularly, it is a feature of the invention to provide a paintshield which constitutes a simple structure and one which can be easilyapplied to protect a baseboard or other surface from the unwantedapplication of paint.

It is a further feature of the invention to provide a paint shield whichcan be releasably supported so that not only can it be readily installedor removed, but can also be shifted in its position to function as aprotective device for a series of adjacent areas.

Yet more specifically, it is a feature .of the invention to providereleasable holding means which can take various forms, such as a springmechanism or a magnetic mechanism of simple form, yet which is readilyadaptable to various conventional structures requiring protectionagainst the inadvertent application of paint thereto.

It is yet a further feature of the invention to provide a paint shieldwhich can be utilized not only in connection with the releasable holdingmeans mentioned hereinabove, but also as a manually supported unit thatcan be employed to assist in a cutting operation to shield, for example,a glass window from the inadvertent application of paint thereto whenthe window frame is being painted.

These as well as other objects and features of the invention will becomemore apparent from a perusal of the following description of severalembodiments of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawingwherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a paint shield embodying thepresent invention, portions of the structure being broken away toillustrate details thereof,

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1illustrating additional details of such structure,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of theinvention utilizing an alternative holding means,

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 3 showing yet a furthermodified form of holding means, and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6--6 of FIGS.

With initial reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional baseboard B atthe lower extremity of a wall section W is illustrated to provide anexemplary locus for effective utilization for a paint shield embodyingthe invention.

The paint shield, illustrated in operative protecting disposition on theadjoining baseboard B and wall W to protect the former from theinadvertent application of paint thereto when the wall, itself, is beingpainted, includes an elongated body member 10 of any desired length andpreferably formed from an elongated strip of metal'or plastic sheetmaterial having sufiicient rigidity to maintain its operativedisposition as illustrated. More particularly, the elongated strip ofsheet material is longitudinally bent to form two strip sections 12, 14,preferably defining an acute angle therebetween. One of such stripsections 12, which shall be termed the base section, is adapted to lieflatly against the wall W im mediately above the baseboard B, as bestillustrated in FIG. 2, and the other strip section 14, which shall betermed the shield section, projects outwardly and downwardly from theupper edge of the base section in effective covering relationship overthe baseboard therebelow. Accordingly, any paint drippings fallingdownwardly from a position adjacent the wall W above such shield section14 will be caught thereby and cannot find their way onto the baseboardB. Furthermore, because of the acute angular relationship between thebase section 12 and the shield section 14, paint applied to the wallsection W either by roller or brush can be applied completely down tothe shield without any possibility of inadvertent application of paintto the baseboard. Preferably, as clearly illustrated in FIG. 2, thelower extremity of the base section 12 of the body member 10 is providedwith a substantially rectangular flange 16 which assists in the mountingof the shield adjacent the baseboard B in cooperation with releasableholding means for the unit to be described immediately hereinafter.

As specifically illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, such holding means takesthe form of a thin, flat mounting plate 20 having a pair of integraltriangular securing members 22 projecting downwardly from one extremityof the plate, such members 22 being adapted to enter the narrow slotbetween the baseboard B and the adjoining wall section W as shown inFIG. 2, thus to support the integral plate in an outwardly-projecting,substantially horizontal disposition. A holding member 24, preferably inthe form of a rectangular section of rigid wire, is pivotally supportedabove the upper surface of the mounting plate 20 in suitable brackets 26and its upper free end is urged resiliently towards the wall section Wand the base section 12 of an elongated body member 10 positionedthereagainst by a conventional torsion spring 28 operativelyinterconnected between the wire holding member 24 and the mounting plate20. More particularly, if the rectangular flange 16 at the lowerextremity of the base section 12 of the body member is positioned on theupper surface of the mounting plate 20, the holding member 24 engagessuch base section 12 of the body member at a position closely adjacentits juncture with the shield section 14, as clearly illustrated in FIG.2, thus to provide a resilient holding means for releasably holding thebody member 10 in its illustrated protective disposition, but at thesame time readily permitting the body member to be shiftedlongitudinally for protection of another section of the baseboard B.Preferably, as illustrated, a retaining bar 30 is connected between theupper end of the holding member 24 and the mounting plate 20 to precludecomplete collapse of the holding member under the urgency of the torsionspring 28, this arrangement facilitating placement of the holding meansagainst the body member 10 or subsequent removal thereof when the unitis to be dismantled. It may be particularly noted that the illustratedholding member 24 has a considerable lateral extent and, as aconsequence, can be utilized at the juncture between longitudinallyabutting body members 10 to hold the abutting ends of both body membersin the illustrated protective dispositions.

Afer the paint shield has been installed in the manner illustrated, thepainting of the wall W thereabove can proceed without fear of any paintdripping or otherwise being applied to the baseboard B. It will beobserved that a section of the wall W immediately above the baseboard B,and more particularly that underlying the base section 12 will not bepainted and subsequent to the removal of the paint shield, the bodymember 10 can then be employed as a manually-supported implement toassist in the remaining cutting operation usually performed with a brushto cover the remainder of the now exposed wall section W immediatelyabove the baseboard B. More particularly, the free end of the shieldsection 14 is positioned at the juncture of the baseboard B and the wallW while the paint is applied with the brush, thus again to function as ashield and preclude the application of paint to the baseboard.

It will be apparent that the described structure can be somewhatmodified without departing from the spirit of the present invention and,as one example, in FIGS. 3 and 4, a body member 10 identical to thatdisclosed in. the first embodiment of the invention is utilized with analternate form of holding means basically in the form of a leaf spring32 which is arranged to engage the base section 12 of the properlypositioned body member when pointed securin-g members 34 integrallyformed with the leaf spring 32 are pushed into the slot formed betweenthe baseboard B and the adjacent wall section W. This modified holdingmeans also permits longitudinal sliding motion of the body member 10 andeasy installation or removal of the entire unit from its protectivedisposition.

As yet a further modified embodiment of the invention, a magneticholding means can be utilized with a body member of slightly variantform, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. More particularly, a generallyrectangular magnet 36 is attached to a securing member 38 in the form ofa downwardly-projecting pin which can be inserted in the slot formedbetween the baseboard B and the wall section W and an elongated bodymember 10' of slightly variant form and composed of fer-ro-magneticmaterial, such as steel, can then be releasably positioned adjacent themagnet 36. Since the magnet 36 does occupy certain space, the basesection 12' of the body member 10' is recessed adjacent its lower end sothat it may fit over the magnet while retaining the upper portion of thebase section flush against the adjoining wall section W so that, inturn, the projecting shield section 14' of the structure provides aneffective covering device. In use, substantially the same operationaladvantages can be achieved.

It will be apparent that other modifications and/or alterations can bemade without departing from the spirit of the invention and theforegoing description of three embodiments is to be considered as purelyexemplary and not in a limiting sense and the actual scope of theinvention is to be indicated only by reference to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A paint shield device which comprises in combination:

a shield holder adapted for support against a surface to be painted;

said holder including a flanged portion adapted to fit between, and befrictionally retained by, opposed faces of a substrate to be paintedwhereby a further portion of said holder is supported;

said further portion being configured to extend outwardly of saidflanged portion and the substrate to be painted.

an additional portion of said holder extending from said furtherportion, in direction opposed to, and in effective alignment with, saidflanged portion;

said additional portion incorporating means whereby, when the flangedportion is retained by said opposed faces, a shield element may besupported and releasably retained in continuous engagement with saidsurface to be painted; and

a shield element in assembly with and releasable from said supported andretained holder and in continuous engagement with said surface to bepainted.

2. A paint shield device as in claim 1 wherein the means incorporated insaid additional portion comprises a spring element adapted to clamp andthereby retain said shield element against the surface to be painted.

3. A paint shield device as in claim 1 wherein said means comprises apermanent magnet and the shield element is of ferro-magnetic material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,563,889 12/1'925 Zastrow118-505 2,078,126 4/ 1937 Cusick 118-505 2,290,472 7/ 1942 Hendrick118-505 2,332,579 10/ 1943 Kirby 118-505 2,482,977 9/ 1949 Hendrick118-505 2,698,003 12/ 1954 Bullock 118-504 2,840,039 6/1958 Darnell etal 118-505 2,889,804 6/1959 Dim et al. 118-504 2,893,042 7/1959 Paskaly118-504 X 3,039,433 6/ 1962 Kormuth 118-505 3,170,810 2/1965 Kagan118-505 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,227,095 2/ 1960 France.

5,156 1910 Great Britain.

MORRIS KAPLAN, Primary Examiner.

